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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019/08/07 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - RegularTelecommunications advisory commission Official minutes Meeting of August 7, 2019 1. Call to order Chair Abe Levine called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m. Present: Maren Anderson, Cindy Hoffman, Abe Levine, David Dyer, Yonah Davis, Mohamud Mohamed Absent: Bruce Browning, Rolf Peterson Staff: Jermaine Wheeler, Jacque Smith, John McHugh, Clint Pires 2. Adoption of agenda No changes to the agenda. Motion by David Dyer, second by Cindy Hoffman to approve agenda; all voted in favor of approval. 3. Approval of minutes: March 13, 2019 No changes. Motion by Mohamud Mohamed, second by Cindy Hoffman; all voted in favor of approval. 4. Unofficial minutes for information only (no vote required). There were no changes to the minutes. a. May 7, 2019 b. June 11, 2019 5. Public comment: none 6. A brief history of fiber and futures in St. Louis Park (Clint Pires) Pires suggested this be deferred to next meeting in the interest of time. The commission members agreed. 7. Communications from the chair/commissioners a. May 7 workshop Members present agreed they were familiar with the information from May 7. b. June 11 subcommittee meeting No comments on this; notes in the packet from this non-official meeting (less than a quorum present). c. Outcome of June 24 meeting with city council Levine shared that he, Browning and Pires were present at the meeting. He said the only point of discussion was related to having a council member at the commission meetings. The directive was to go forward as the commission had decided on June 11. Abe stated the council was satisfied with the direction of the commission. Pires noted several council members liked the committee structure and to come back to the council quarterly or so; or whenever there was something to discuss/report. 8. Election of chair/vice chair for remainder of 2019 Smith shared an email from Browning related to allowing Chair Levine to be considered as chair for a second one-year term. Levine said the role of the chair is to set up meetings and to run the meetings. There will be more work to do with committee work and coordinating information as well Page 2 as communicating with council. Chair should work with Pires and Smith on what will be said to council and how to present it. Pires said that’s a great approach, but staff will let the chair know what’s needed on the agenda from an official business standpoint. From there staff will provide a skeleton agenda and let the chair fill in the rest. Levine thought we could agree on a framework for each meeting, then items from staff could be added in. Levine asked for volunteers who would like to be chair; Levine offered to serve as chair. Pires suggested that as we go forward with additional changes, let the council know who is serving as chair. Dyer motion to have Levine continue as chair until the December 2019 meeting; Mohamed seconded. All voted in favor. Commission members asked who was vice chair. Smith said the most recent vice chair was Nathan Munson who is no longer with the commission. Dyer motioned that Cindy Hoffman be vice chair; second by Maren Anderson, all voted in favor. 9. Presentation from election staff on ranked-choice voting Michael Sund from city elections staff gave a presentation about ranked-choice voting. He asked the commission members about how results and tabulation should be presented. Dyer suggested use of social media the day after polls close. Sund said that Minneapolis announced on Twitter, then posts on website. McHugh suggested a sign at polling places that counting would take place at 8 a.m. the following day. Hoffman said Carver County did the counting the night of the election. Sund explained the initial machine count will be posted that night; but if no one receives 50% there will be a manual count the next day. Sund invited the commission to attend the Sept. 17 mock election. 10. Review proposed changes to bylaws Smith suggested 1.1 should read “Commission members voted Aug. 7, 2019, to reorganize as the Community Technology Advisory Commission.” Dyer suggested 2.1 should read “There shall be at least seven members…” Pires pointed out that the commission can have non-commission members on committees, etc. Hoffman mentioned that in 2.2 commission should be small C. Dyer suggested that in 3.1 the language be changed to read “A regular election shall be held at the first meeting following city council boards and commissions appointments in May.” Pires pointed out 3.2 and asked if the commission would like to change. Levine suggested a caveat, …”unless otherwise voted on by the commission.” There was discussion of what “consecutive” means. The language will read, “The term for officers shall be one year and the chair may serve for up to two consecutive years.” Levine noted that 4.2 should be changed to “A majority of commissioners shall constitute a quorum…” The commission agreed with striking 4.3 as simple majorities aren’t required. Page 3 The commission agreed with the change to 5.3. 5.2 can be removed as there’s no reason for an annual meeting. Levine asked about meeting time and if that needs to be specified. Pires said there is language to allow for changes. 5.4 there was discussion about why only one day’s notice for commissioners for special meetings. Pires recalled it was from a time when postal mail was the way to notify people officially. Staff will check in with the city clerk on language for this item to see if it can or should be changed; if it can preference would be notice is given at the same time meeting is posted officially. Motion to approve the slate of changes for the bylaws by Dyer; Hoffman seconded. All voted in favor. 11. Changes to code Smith explained that city code language has been simplified so that commission can be nimble and make changes as needed to their work. Dyer moved to permit staff to amend the code section 2 per direction by city clerk’s office. Mohamed seconded. All approved. Anderson moved to approve the revisions to city code as presented. Davis seconded. All approved. 12. Review/approve work plan for 2019 Levine asked if the commission wanted to decide committees at another meeting; the commission agreed. Hoffman moved to approve the work plan as presented. Davis seconded. All voted in favor. 13. Staff items Staff will check on any applications for a new youth member, which was due August 1. Pires asked who would attend the August 14, 2:30 p.m. Verizon meeting; Browning, Levine and Mohamed plan to attend. Since there is not a quorum expected no official notice has to be posted of the meeting. Levine proposed a meeting on September 10, 6 p.m. to tackle the commission’s next item on establishing subcommittees. He asked if commission members would be willing to be part of more than one committee; there was general agreement to this. Levine suggested that not much can be done on committees until community engagement is done and he wants to do exploration on how they can learn more from the community. Pires recapped by saying the commission wants to do some exploration, which will at the same time serve other items on the workplan. Levine didn’t think the commission was ready to form committees. Pires explained the change of a city department from inspections to building and energy to encompass climate action plan and sustainability. Levine asked that everyone think about main components of community to which the commission should do outreach. Next meeting is Sept. 10 to review that input. Commission members should Page 4 send their ideas to jsmith@stlouispark.org by Tuesday, Sept. 3. Idea is to figure out what it means to get input from the community. Other homework is to review a list from Browning that has ideas for several committees; commission members weren’t familiar with this list so Levine said he would email it to Smith, who will then send it to the commission. Dyer reminded commission members to be careful emailing, and that “replying all” or having conversation by email about official commission business could violate open meeting laws. Smith and Pires agreed and thanked Dyer for providing that reminder to the commission. Pires said he wanted to bring up one item regarding fiber. Since 2005 the city has installed fiber conduit whenever a street is reconstructed; that has contributed to the 50 miles of fiber in the community. In 2012, a study by CTC consultants helped determine what to do with excess fiber and how to lease the fiber. For the first time, in 2020 the city is considering not putting fiber conduit into the ground during these projects. The reason is primarily financial as the city looks to manage the property tax levy amount. Pires said the city manager and city council will be interested in how the commission would react to that. Dyer stated this seems to be against everything the commission is trying to accomplish. Pires pointed out that conduit laid in the Sorensen neighborhood was recently leased back to US Internet to provide service in that area. Anderson asked if enough money was recouped to cover the cost of installation of the conduit. Pires said they do a trade, it’s not monetary. Hoffman asked about the demographic of the neighborhood and raised concerns about perceptions of inequities if this practice is discontinued going forward. Dyer said it’s difficult to know how to respond to this proposed change without understanding the entire picture and what pressures are on the finances. Pires understands the commission direction is to look for more opportunities with outside vendors to expand in St. Louis Park and to look at alternative ways to provide same infrastructure but with private vendors. Levine made a motion that the commission believes high speed data communication is important to the future of the city, and where costs are prohibitive to provide fiber, the city will look at alternative business models and technologies that can or will provide equivalent capabilities to fiber. Hoffman seconded the motion. All voted in favor. 14. Adjournment Hoffman moved to adjourn the meeting, Dyer seconded. All voted in favor. Meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m.